


Trünicht Gets His Dues

by Yangs Sunglasses (Nilenium)



Category: Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu | Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Genre: Gen, Tea, Warmongering, Yang's sunglasses, demagogue, political rally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-28
Updated: 2016-09-28
Packaged: 2018-08-18 06:20:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8152127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nilenium/pseuds/Yangs%20Sunglasses
Summary: As the title says. Yang doesn't hold back.





	

It was a nice day on Heinessen, with a light blue sky and only a few white fluffy clouds here and there. Yang Wen-li went on a leisurely stroll, enjoying the warm weather. There weren't many people on the streets and Yang briefly wondered if it was Sunday already. Or maybe he forgot about some national holiday again? 

_Ah, never mind._ Yang shrugged. He was never a fan of those. 

Anyway, he sure felt great. Lack of crowds made it less likely he'd be identified by someone and—he checked himself over in the shop window—he even wore civilian clothes and his sunglasses. Satisfied with the impromptu inspection, Yang put his hands in pockets and walked on, adding a tiny bounce in his step. 

Turning a corner, he came upon a plaza. A podium was standing at the far side of it and a crowd was rapidly gathering before it. Yang decided to see what was going on there. 

A man entered the stage, a very familiar man, though his face was unrecognizable at this distance. Yang took off his shades, put them in a breast pocket and squinted. 

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! Citizens of the Free Planets Alliance!” the man spoke and Yang instantly recoiled. It was Trünicht! Yang looked around desperately, trying to leave, but he was trapped in the crowd which was steadily pushing him towards the stage. 

“Our great nation is in a danger once again! The tyranny of the Galactic Empire cannot stand the existence of a free, independent, democratic state and seeks to crush it! The Empire struck a deal with the Phezzan and they aim to catch us unawares! The Imperial fleets, even now as I speak, are coming straight for Heinessen!” Trünicht announced. 

A shudder of fear rippled through the throngs of people. 

“What's the government doing? Why are you allowing this? You have to protect us!” scared voices were heard among the masses, unknowingly falling for Trünicht's manipulative play. The man continued speaking. 

“But do not worry! The Alliance will resist with all of its might! We will stand strong! We will stay united! This is our duty to the nation!” After plunging them into the darkest despair, he showed them the light at the end of a tunnel. The hope of salvation would make them obedient to him. 

“I think I know where this is headed,” Yang said under his breath. 

“Our sacred duty is calling us all, here, today! But I need your help! True patriots, who love our country, are you here?” 

“We are! We are!” a few shouts replied, others joining in rapidly until it became a chant. 

“Will you fight?” 

“We will! We will!” 

Yang obviously didn't shout, but instead put fingers in his ears to block out the noise. It was hurting his ears. He wanted the rally to end. He was sick of Trünicht and his political games. 

Someone grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. 

“Hey, let go!” Yang pulled out of the person's grasp and turned around. “Schönkopf?! What are you doing here?” 

“Watching your back, Admiral. The Rosenritter are already placed around the plaza and in the crowd. We're waiting for your command.” Schönkopf informed him with his typical bloody nonchalance. But there was no mistaking the eager glint in his eyes—the man was itching for some action, preferably of the violent kind. 

“What command? I don't understand!” 

“You want to end this, right?” When Yang nodded warily, Schönkopf pulled a tomato out of a bag and handed it to him. Yang looked at it. The stage of ripeness was long behind it. “This is the only way. You know what to do, Admiral.” Schönkopf pointed at the stage. “Good luck!” He winked and disappeared in the crowd. 

Yang turned the tomato in his hands, considering. 

Trünicht was speaking again. 

“Everyone able to fight should do so! We need more soldiers! Everyone who goes to battle will be remembered for all the eternity as a hero of our nation! Young, old, men or women!” 

Yang made a decision. 

“We will have to make noble sacrifices for the cause because it is the only way to win! Losing is not an option! Withdrawal is not an option! Surrender is outside of the question!” Trünicht was working the crowd into a frenzy with his demagogic speech. 

Yang took aim carefully. 

“There can't be any peace as long as the Empire exists! Our mission is to exterminate it forever! We will have victory and nothing else! Victory or death! Repeat after me: Victory or-” 

Splat! 

The rotten tomato splattered beautifully all over Trünicht's face, some of the stinky red goop getting into his eyes and open mouth, while the rest flowed down the front of his pristine white suit. 

In a stunned silence, people looked around for the culprit and easily found him. He still had his arm outstretched after the throw and when the eyes landed on him, he slowly retracted it. 

“Victory or death? Is that a joke? If you want to wage war so badly, why don't you go to the front lines and fight it yourself?” Yang asked, boiling with anger. “All you do is send people to die in your wars! There are no heroes! There are only your victims! You demand endless sacrifices, but you never sacrificed anything for anyone!” 

As he was speaking, Yang walked towards the podium. He climbed onto it. 

“Admiral Yang, you are mistaken! I am a politician, not a soldier!” Trünicht said in his defense, but it was too weak to prevent Yang's enraged advance. The admiral was on a warpath. 

“You are nothing but a liar and a coward! As a leader, you never fulfilled your duty! You didn't serve the people, only your own selfish interests! You allowed the unreasonable plan to invade the Empire and we lost many good soldiers and ships for nothing. You hid in safety when the people suffered under the military coup! And now, you ignored the warnings about the invasion through Phezzan and didn't make necessary preparations!” 

Speaking his mind out loud was a relief. Yang let loose all the resentment he bottled up against this snake, this cancer on the nation. And. It. Felt. Good. 

The gathered people began to mutter, their eyes becoming suspicious as they all looked at Trünicht. Yang's cutting words stripped him off the carefully fabricated statesman facade. The man realized the tide has turned against him and he scrambled to regain the control. 

“Admiral Yang, your words are treason! Guards! Arrest this man!” he cried out. 

However, no one came forward. 

The crowd's low mutters turned into loud booing and jeering. The hostility was growing and it was aimed at Trünicht. 

“Guards! To me!” he called again, this time seeking his own protection. “Patriotic Knights!” he tried for his unofficial private hit squads. 

“No one's coming. We took care of them and the Patriotic Clowns too.” Schönkopf resurfaced just in front of the stage. He held his axe, stained with red. “Admiral, what are your orders?” 

“Hmm, what is a suitable punishment for a scumbag like him?” Yang asked the people, who started outshouting each other with different, and increasingly bloodier, ideas. 

“Prison colony for life!” 

“Firing squad!” 

“Send him with a kamikaze attack against the Empire!” 

The more Trünicht heard, the paler he got. He turned to Yang with pleading eyes. “You can't punish me! I am the High Council's Chairman!” He backed away, then bumped into two Rosenritter commandos who grabbed him under arms. “Unhand me! I am the Chairman!” The politician struggled futilely. 

“This is the country of equality. Your high position doesn't make you an exception from taking responsibility! Justice will be served today!” Schönkopf said, tapping the handle of the axe on his hand impatiently. The edge of the blade glinted in the sun. 

“You can't kill me! This would be murder!” 

“We're not killing you,” Yang replied. 

“Death is too good for someone like you!” Schönkopf added scornfully. 

Yang nodded. “I agree. You should feel ashamed of yourself, Trünicht. The biggest punishment you can get is that everyone in the Alliance knows the truth about you! You will never be able to hold public office again!” 

“Then you will let me go?” Even now, the shameless man only cared about his own survival. 

“No. You need to feel the true shame and regret for everything you have ever done. For everyone who died at your behest. For every bereaved family.” 

At Yang's signal, the Rosenritter came with a solid, heavy pole which they put on the stage and tied Trünicht to it. 

“You will apologize to every person you wronged! Separately!” Yang passed the sentence on him. 

“This is madness! It will take years!” Trünicht still opposed. 

Schönkopf chortled. “Then better get started!” 

Yang came to Trünicht and looked him in the eye. 

“Admiral, please stop this! We can still negotiate! You can get away with a slap on the wrist, nothing more, just let me go!” Trünicht pleaded. Somehow, he still held on to a glimmer of hope that he'd walk away from this scot free. 

Yang looked at him coldly. 

“Do you remember Jessica Edwards? She spoke against you at the memorial service for the dead in the battle of Astarte. Her fiancé and my friend, Jean Robert Lappe, died in that battle. You will apologize to Jessica and Lappe first!” 

Having spoken his part, Yang turned and walked away. 

“Please wait!” Trünicht called hoarsely after him. 

“You heard the admiral! Start apologizing, now!” Schönkopf ordered. 

“I'm sorry, Jessica Edwards! I'm sorry, Jean Robert Lappe! I'm sorry, Admiral Yang Wen-li! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!” Trünicht broke down and began his penance. 

Yang stepped down from the stage. He pulled out the sunglasses from the breast pocket and put them on. His job there was done. 

After all that shouting his throat was parched. Yang headed back home, hoping for Julian's black tea being ready when he would get there. 

. 

_Mmm, tea..._

The delicious, overpowering smell tickled his nostrils and Yang smiled contently. 

“Admiral, wake up!” 

“Whazzit, Julian?” Yang mumbled. 

“You're sleeping on the job again! Iserlohn won't command itself!” 

Iserlohn? He wasn't on Heinessen? 

Yang bolted up in his seat. His beret, which he was using as a makeshift eye mask, fell off his face. The admiral rubbed at his eyes, but the image of the office in the Iserlohn Fortress wasn't going away. 

So all of this, exposing Trünicht's real nature to the people and bringing him to justice, was only a dream? 

Yang scratched at his head and sighed heavily. He couldn't help feeling disappointed. 

“Julian, why did you have to wake me?” he grumbled. “What are you even doing here? I asked Lieutenant Greenhill to keep everyone out!” 

“Did you have a good dream, Admiral?” The woman in question chose that moment to arrive. She put the tray with her superior's lunch on the desk before him. “You've been asleep for three hours, so I thought that your nap was long enough. You shouldn't miss a meal because of it.” 

“Exactly! That's what I've been telling him for ages!” Julian nodded and shared a conspirational smile with Frederica. 

“I'm not that hungry,” Yang made an excuse, but they would have none of that. 

“Please, you have to eat up, Admiral!” Julian said firmly. 

“I brought your favourites,” Frederica added. 

“You two...” Yang sighed. He'd known allowing Julian to join the military was a mistake. They were ganging up on him now. 

Feeling defeated by their joined powers of persuasion, Yang picked up the fork and the knife. 

As he steadily made his way through the steak, his thoughts revolved around the dream. After he finished eating, Yang took a sip of the tea, savouring the heady aroma, and leaned back in his seat in bliss. 

Yang came to a conclusion that he really wouldn't mind staying longer in the world that finally punished Trünicht, even if it was just a dream, but in the end, the reality was the only place where he could drink such a delicious tea. 

**Author's Note:**

> Was Trünicht's punishment adequate?  
> Please review! This is a small fandom, every comment is valuable! :)


End file.
